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Tennessee

Overview

Tennessee is a state in the southeastern United States. Nashville, its largest city, also serves as its capital. It is the 15th most populous state with an estimated 7.32 million people, even though it is only the 36th largest state. Tennessee's 2025 GDP was $602,800,200,000.

The top industries there are manufacturing, aerospace and defense, automotive, chemicals, distribution and logistics, food and agriculture, healthcare and life sciences, finance, and rubber, ceramics and glass. Tennessee's auto industry employs over 118,000 people through 930 establishments, which ranks it as the top automotive manufacturing state in the Southeast. The state produces over 561,000 vehicles per year, with a rapidly growing segment being electric vehicles supported by multi-billion dollar manufacturing investments, yielding over $10.1 billion in automotive exports.

Tennessee's economic connection to Qatar is rooted in advanced manufacturing, global logistics networks, and automotive sector supply chains. As a major automotive and transportation equipment exporter, Tennessee manufactures high-value motor vehicle components and machinery parts that feed into the broader U.S. industrial trade architecture supporting Qatar’s massive infrastructure and aerospace developments. Furthermore, major logistics powerhouses anchored in the state, such as FedEx in Memphis, play a critical operational role in managing the high-value supply chains and digital trade passing between the U.S. and the Persian Gulf.

Tennessee has a flat 6.50% corporate income tax rate, officially known as the excise tax. Additionally, the state levies a gross receipts business tax, which is calculated based on the specific county or municipality where operations exist as well as the classifications of the goods and services sold. Tennessee provides diverse state economic incentive programs, such as the FastTrack infrastructure and training grants, alongside a massive state Job Tax Credit framework. The state is also home to multiple foreign trade zones distributed across major trade markets, including Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga, Knoxville, and Blountville.